See alsoanother page about seals in Loch NessBack to homepageI am sad to report that Dr
Gordon Williamson died in March 2003. I had the privilege of working with
him on a number of projects over the years, and this Paper was a key element
in setting off the chain of events which resulted in the Loch Ness Investigation
web site.

SEALS IN LOCH NESS

GORDON R. WILLIAMSON*

ABSTRACT

A Common or Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina
L. lived in Loch Ness, Scotland, for seven months from November 1984 - June
1985. Photographs of the seal are presented. This is the first time a seal
has been proven in Loch Ness. Fishermen's reports indicate that Loch Ness
is visited by a seal approximately once every two years.

INTRODUCTION

Loch Ness is one of Britain's largest and deepest
freshwater lakes. It is long, narrow, deep and straight 38 km long, 1.7 km
wide and 230 m deep, is 16 m above sea level and is connected to the sea
by the 12-km-long River Ness. It lies in the valley of a former glacier.
Many salmon Salmo salar L. migrate through Loch Ness. The temperature
of Loch Ness surface water ranges 4-12'C (Wedderburn, 1907). The ecology of
Loch Ness is described by Maitland (1981).

Common or Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina L.
have a well-known habit of exploring up rivers and in northern Canada permanent
populations of Common Seals live in freshwater lakes 300 km inland from the
sea (Mansfield, 1967; Hewer, 1974; King, 1983). About 100 seals, both Common
Seals and Grey Seals Halichoerus grypus Fabricius, live in the sea
near Inverness. Individual seals of both species can regularly be seen 1
km up the River Ness in the middle of Inverness town, especially at high
tides. There have been several reports of a seal in Loch Ness (Anon, 1933;
1934; 1934) and beyond Loch Ness in the River Oich (Harvie-Brown and Buckley,
1895, p183), but these reports were not supported by photographs and were
not believed.

OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION

Between November 16, 1984 and June 11, 1985, a
seal was seen in Loch Ness by myself and other people. Photographs were taken
(Figs 1 and 2). The seal was identified as a Common or Harbour Seal Phoca
vitulina by its head profile, with turned-up nose by its grey colour
with black spots and by its estimated length of 1.8m. The other species of
seal found around Scotland, the Grey Seal, has a long straight nose, like
an Alsatian dog.

Fig.1. Seal in Loch Ness with Urquhart Castle. February 27, 1985.

Fig. 2. Common Seal in Loch Ness. February
27, 1985.
Above: seal in natural swimming position.
Centre and below: seal with head raised in response to a low whistle sound
made by me.

The seal spent most of its seven months living
on the south side of Loch Ness opposite Urquhart Castle (Fig. 3). However,
the seal was seen in many parts of Loch Ness, including Fort Augustus 48
km from the sea. The seal was seen in the river exit of Loch Ness at Lochend
on four separate occasions (Dec. 1, Dec. 21, Jan. 13, Feb. 8) yet it did
not descend the river to the sea.

Fig. 3. Loch Ness showing places where the seal was seen.

This suggests that the seal "knew" where it was,
was not "lost" and that it deliberately remained in Loch Ness. The seal appeared
to be in vigorous good health throughout its stay in Loch Ness. The seal
was shot on June 11, 1985. About 30 people reported about 60 separate sightings
of the seal to me. Of these 30 observers, twenty-eight were local people
who had close contact with the surface of Loch Ness - either fishermen in
salmon-trolling boats or people who lived beside Loch Ness. Of the hundreds
of thousands of people, locals and visitors, who drove along the roads beside
Loch Ness during the 7-month period, only two (that I know of) - a pair
of Australian tourists at Urquhart Castle - noticed the seal.

Fig. 4. Seal making successive jumps, as seen by fisherman Mr Gerry Breau,

Fig. 5. A Common Seal jumping in sea near Orkney Islands, Photograph by Paul
Thompson.

Common Seals spend only about 20% of the time at
the surface, and make dives of 3-8 minutes duration (P. Thompson, pers. comm).
Conclusion: in Loch Ness it is very hard to notice such a small animal as
a seal unless you spend many hours close to the water. While at the surface,
the seal breathed in and out about 24 times per minute (measured by observing
the rise and fall of its back when the seal was floating horizontally).
The seal often followed the boats of salmon fishermen who troll along the
sides of the Loch, often following a boat for half an hour, to the annoyance
of the fishermen. One day fisherman Mr Gerry Breau accelerated his boat
to try to get away from the seal, and the seal chased after the boat at
top speed, leaping out of and into the water ten successive jumps like a
porpoise (Fig. 4). However, this behaviour was only seen on one occasion.
Fishermen and river bailiffs informed me of the following sightings of seals
in Loch Ness during recent years:1972-80: About 4 seals seen in various parts of
the Loch, including 2 together at mouth of River Moriston.1981 April-August: 1 seal seen at mouth of River
Moriston.1984 November-June 1985: 1 seal seen in many parts
of Loch (this report

1985 October: An adult and a 4-month-old young
Common Seal seen together at Dochfour Weir and near Foyers (identified from
photographs taken by Mr John Bailey). This totals about 8 seals in 15 years
(1972-86): an average of one seal entering Loch Ness every two years. Two
seals together were seen on two occasions. The number of seals reported
by individual fishermen varied greatly: one man had seen six seals during
the period, some men have never seen a seal yet.

Seals in Loch Ness lived in good health and the
place at which seals were most commonly seen was the mouth of the River Moriston
(Fig. 3), although the present seal was not seen there. Seals lived in Loch
Ness for up to seven months. What finally happens to seals that enter Loch
Ness? Local men told me that several seals have been shot by salmon fishermen.
One rainy January day some years ago when the River Ness was in spate, a
big seal was seen swimming down the River Ness at Dochgarroch near Dochfour.
It seems that most seals that enter Loch Ness get shot, bu i t a few return
to the sea.

A seal making successive jumps, especially if seen
silhouetted against the setting sun, etc. could well look like a many-humped
serpent or monster (Figs 4-5). Perhaps a proportion of sightings of the "Loch
Ness Monster" and other "sea-serpents" may be sightings of jumping seals.
A successive-jumping seal looks more like a "sea serpent" than a dolphin:
a seal jumps equal-lengthjumps in fast close-spaced rhythm; whereas a dolphin
jumps and the jumps are spaced further apart.The distribution of seals in the larger Scottish
lochs is shown in Fig. 6 and was discovered by interviewing fishermen and
river bailiffs etc. In near to-the-coast Loch Sheil, Hope and Maree, seals
are seen as follows:

L. Shiel : one or two seals seen most years, may
stay several months, once five seals seen together.L. Hope : one seal six weeks in loch June-July
1983, one definite Grey Seal one month in loch August 1984.L. Maree: one seal seen 1981, five seals seen Sept-Oct
1983.

In lochs which have hydroelectric dams blocking
their outlet river, such as Lochs Morar, Lochy and Awe, seals are not seen.
In former times in Loch Awe, however, when the outlet river flowed freely
to the sea, seals were seen: "The seal comes up from the ocean, through a
very rapid river, into Loch Awe in quest for salmon, and retires to the sea
at the approach of winter". (Anon, 1793, p260). "For ten years, up to 1883,
we saw one or more seals in Loch Awe almost every year, most frequently in
the Autumn, but also in April in some years". (Harvie-Brown, 189 1). In Loch
Lomond, which is near the sea and whose river is unobstructed, seals have
not been reported (P.S. Maitland pers. comm): perhaps the industrial pollution
in the Firth of Clyde during the past century is the cause.

The former occurrence of seals in Loch Awe is interesting
for it proves that seals can ascend rivers at least four times steeper than
the R. Ness (slope of R. Awe 5.1m/km., R. Ness 1.3m/km). (Fig. 6).

The data presented prove that a Common or Harbour
Seal lived in Loch Ness during seven months of 1984-85, indicate that Loch
Ness is entered by a seal about once every two years, and prove that a seal
can live for many months in Loch Ness. The route of entry of a seal must be
from the sea up the River Ness. These data suggest that past reports of seals
in Loch Ness were true and that seals have probably been visiting Loch Ness
for thousands of years.